Two held for threatening to kill Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid

Delhi Police on Sunday arrested Saurabh Agarwal and Sulabh Bhardwaj for allegedly writing a threat letter to assassinate two JNU students and leaving a countrymade gun inside a DTC bus

Delhi Police on Sunday arrested Saurabh Agarwal and Sulabh Bhardwaj for allegedly writing a threat letter to assassinate two JNU students and leaving a countrymade gun inside a DTC bus.

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar during a press conference in New Delhi. On Thursday a pistol, cartridges and a letter ordering the kill was recovered from a DTC bus. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT File Photo)

Agarwal, police said, is the brother of Amit Jani, the self-styled leader of the group UP Navnirman Sena. In the threat letter, allegedly written by one Amit Jani, it was mentioned that the weapon was to be used on JNU students Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid were spotted on the campus.

In March, Jani had threatened to kill Kanhaiya and Umar Khalid, over Kanhaiya’s purported remarks on the Indian Army.

The main suspect in the case, Amit Jani, was absconding, police said. On Thursday a pistol, cartridges and a letter ordering the kill was recovered from a DTC bus — route number 615 — which cuts inside the JNU university campus. Following the weapon’s recovery, police had increased security for the duo.

Kanhaiya, Khalid and fellow-student Anirban Bhattacharya had been jailed recently on sedition charges following a controversial event in February at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Last month, Kanhaiya was manhandled while he was on his way to attend his classes in the evening.

The Delhi police later provided police personnel in plain clothes for his protection.

“We had sought Agarwal’s police custody so that he can be questioned about his brother’s plans. His associate Bhardwaj has been sent to judicial custody. During interrogation, Agarwal has revealed that the plan to murder Kanhaiya was made at a hotel in Paharganj,” said a police officer.